Kentucky Wildcats: CFN College Football Preview 2021
College Football News Preview 2021: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Kentucky season with what you need to know.
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– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Keys To The Season
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Kentucky Wildcats Schedule Analysis
– Kentucky Wildcats Previews
2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
2020 Record: 5-6 overall, 4-6 in SEC
Head Coach: Mark Stoops, 9th year, 49-50
2020 CFN Final Ranking: 36
2020 CFN Preview Ranking: 25
2019 CFN Final Ranking: 45
Kentucky Wildcats College Football Preview 2021: Offense
– The offense needed a jumpstart. It’s one thing to have a slow and stodgy offensive attack as part of an overall style and system, but it’s another to finish dead last in the SEC in total yards with the league’s least-efficient passing game. Enter new offensive coordinator Liam Coen, who comes in from his time as an assistant under Sean McVay on the LA Rams.
So, with Terry Wilson transferring to New Mexico, the starting quarterback who’s going to make this all go is …
– Yeah, it’s going to take all of fall camp to figure out the quarterback. Joey Gatewood has the size, the arm, the skills, and the experience as the backup, but he hasn’t been able to take over. Sophomore Bo Allen is right there in the hunt, but there’s a reason Will Levis is transferring in from Penn State.
No matter who’s under center – it’ll likely be Levis – there’s a good group of targets to start opening things up a bit. Senior Josh Ali is the main man, returning for his super-senior year after leading the way with 54 catches for 473 yards and a score, but getting Wan’dale Robinson from Nebraska was a huge transfer.
6-6, 245-pound junior Keaton Upshaw was second on the team in receptions and led the way with three touchdown passes, and fellow tight end Justin Rigg is an option, too.
– The O line was and will be a plus. It was great at keeping defenses out of the backfield, and it pushed for for close to 200 yards for the ground game. Three starters are expected back, but losing Drake Jackson and Landon Young hurts – 6-5, 338-pound tackle Darian Kinnard is the guy to work around.
Chris Rodriguez was a major factor with a team-high 785 yards and 11 touchdowns with junior Kavosiey Smoke leading a decent group of backups for the rotation.
– What You Need To Know: Defense
– Top Players | Keys To The Season
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Kentucky Wildcats Schedule Analysis
NEXT: Kentucky Wildcats College Football Preview 2021: Defense
4. Kentucky Wildcats College Football Preview 2021: Defense
– The defense was fine. It had problems with Alabama, Ole Miss and Florida, but so did everyone else. Those three games blew out the curve for the overall numbers, but the pass rush was a problem throughout the season. On the plus side, no one in the SEC did a better job of taking the ball away, and the D held six teams to 21 points or fewer. But …
– There are a whole lot of massive losses, starting with a linebacking corps that has to replace first round draft pick Jamin Davis and hybrid pass rusher Boogie Watson. DeAndre Square is a good one – he finished third on the team with 60 stops – Jordan Wright made 45 tackles on the outside, and there’s size expected to take over at the other open job.
The D line loses massive Qunton Bohanna at tackle, but Marquan McCall is a 6-3, 379-pound true anchor for the position. The pass rush has to show up from somewhere, and 6-3, 278-pound Josh Paschal has to be more of a factor behind the line.
– The secondary lost Kelvin Joseph to the Dallas Cowboys and Brandin Echols to the New York Jets, but Yusef Corker is one of the best all-around safeties in the SEC, Tyrell Aijan is a good tackler, and there’s a little experience at corner, starting with Cedrick Dort. Now this group needs help from a pass rush that wasn’t there in 2020.
– What You Need To Know: Offense
– Top Players | Keys To The Season
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Kentucky Wildcats Schedule Analysis
NEXT: Kentucky Wildcats College Football Preview 2021: Top Players
Kentucky Wildcats College Football Preview 2021: Top Players
Best Kentucky Wildcats Offensive Player
RB Chris Rodriguez, Jr.
He’s not going to catch many passes, but the 5-11, 224-pounder will bring power along with a good enough burst to average 7.1 yards per carry. He tore off 533 yards and six scores in 2019 and 785 yards and 11 touchdowns last year even though he missed the Alabama and Florida games. Great late in the season, he ran for 100 yards in each of the last three SEC games he played in, including against Georgia.
2. OT Darian Kinnard, Sr.
3. WR Josh Ali, Sr.
4. OG Luke Fortner, Sr.
5. TE Keaton Upshaw, Jr.
Related
2021 Kentucky Football Schedule: Analysis, Best and Worst Case Scenarios
Best Kentucky Wildcats Defensive Player
S Yusuf Corker, Sr.
He’s a free safety who does free safety things. He might not be all that big, but the 6-0, 197-pounder is a terrific tackler and all-around playmaker with 77 tackles – coming off a 74-tackle 2019 – a sack, 2.5 tackles for loss and two picks last season.
2. LB DeAndre Square, Sr.
3. DE Josh Paschal, Sr.
4. LB Jordan Wright, Sr.
5. S Tyrell Aijan, Sr.
Top Incoming Kentucky Wildcats Transfer
QB Will Levis, Jr.
Wan’Dale Robinson is an explosive playmaker coming in from Nebraska – he ran for 580 yards and caught 91 passes in his two years – but the team needs a quarterback who can make the new style of offense his.
There are other options, and Levis is hardly a sure thing to get the job, but the 6-3, 222-pounder from Penn State can work as the type of baller who can do a little of everything.
He hit 60% of his passes for 644 yards with three touchdowns and two picks, and ran for 473 yards and six touchdowns for the Nittany Lions.
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Keys To The Season
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Kentucky Wildcats Schedule Analysis
NEXT: Kentucky Wildcats College Football Preview 2021: Keys To The Season
Kentucky Wildcats College Football Preview 2021: Keys To The Season
Kentucky Wildcats Biggest Key: Offense
The downfield passing game has to show up. Part of it was a function of the offense, part of it was former QB Terry Wilson, and part of it was that Kentucky’s passing game just wasn’t that explosive.
The Wildcats averaged over seven yards per pass in 2018, and that was the norm. Over the last two years the passing game has been under six. That’s where new offensive coordinator Liam Coen comes in, and that’s where the shift to get more big plays makes an impact.
Kentucky averaged over seven yards per pass just three times last season. By comparison – Alabama only went under nine yards per throw twice.
That doesn’t mean the Wildcats are going to start winging it all over the yard, but there should be more shots down the field and more of an emphasis on getting more yards after the catch.
Kentucky Wildcats Biggest Key: Defense
There HAS to be more of a pass rush. The Wildcats couldn’t get into the backfield enough, and it was a problem.
This wasn’t always the case. Josh Allen and the 2018 defense lived behind the line with 38 sacks in the 13 game season, and the 2019 D was terrific at generating pressure with 33 sacks and 74 tackles for loss.
Last year? 15 sacks and 54 tackles for loss in 11 games.
There was steady enough pressure to come up with a little bit, and the D overall wasn’t all that bad, but there wasn’t a big moment when everything clicked. However, when UK came up with two sacks or more – the season high was three in the bowl win over NC State – it was 3-1.
Kentucky Wildcats Key Player To A Successful Season
LB Jordan Wright, Jr.
It would be nice if one guy could step up and become a playmaker behind the line, but it’s going to take the entire defense to step up and become more disruptive.
The 6-5, 233-pound Wright has been good – 6.5 sacks and 11.5 tackles for loss in the last two seasons – and he has the experience, quickness, and upside to do even more. If he can get to at least five sacks, that’s a start.
Kentucky Wildcats Key Game To The 2021 Season
Missouri, Sept. 11
Kentucky won five in a row against against Mizzou, but last year the 20-10 loss on the road was a problem with the biggest games against several SEC stars to follow. This time around, it’s the SEC opener and it’s at home early on.
Win it, and with ULM to start the season and Chattanooga to follow, it’s going to be a 3-0 start with the trip to South Carolina up next in SEC play. Lose, and with Florida, LSU, and at Georgia before mid-October, and there’s going to be a problem before an easy finishing kick.
– Kentucky Wildcats Schedule Breakdown & Analysis
2020 Kentucky Wildcats Fun Stats
– Interceptions Thrown: Opponents 16 – Kentucky 5
– 4th Down Conversions: Opponents 71% – Kentucky 47%
– Passing TDs: Opponents 18 – Kentucky 7
NEXT: Kentucky Wildcats College Football Preview 2021: What Will Happen, Season Prediction
Kentucky Wildcats College Football Preview 2021: What Will Happen, Season Prediction
Let’s ask more out of Kentucky football.
The program failed to come up with a winning record from 2010 to 2015, and the ten-win 2018 campaign was the first time since 1984 it came up with over eight wins.
2020 was 2020 – anything bad that happened on the field could and should be taken with a few grains of salt.
Even with the rough run, UK still went 5-6, it still beat NC State in a bowl game, and was still entertaining and …
It got rolled by Alabama and Florida and lost by double-digits in five of its six losses.
There have been a few coaching changes, a few adjustments, and a few tweaks to try getting more explosion out of the offense and more big things out of the defense.
So with that, along with the schedule …
Set The Kentucky Wildcats Regular Season Win Total At … 7.5
Again, ask more out of Kentucky football. That means the games against ULM and Chattanooga are no brainers.
That means there’s no concern about the New Mexico State layup, and it needs to take care of the home games against Missouri and Tennessee, and the road dates against Vanderbilt and Mississippi State.
There’s no Alabama or Texas A&M to deal with. and there’s no Auburn and – this year, this matters – no Ole Miss.
There will be a misfire somewhere, and it’s asking a lot to beat Florida, LSU and/or Georgia in a nasty three week stretch, but Mark Stoops has proven he knows how to fix glitches. There might not be the bulk experience returning in this super-senior year like there are at some places, but the Cats should be fine.
Come up with a winning season, go to a bowl game and win it, and keep pushing forward as a solid SEC East team that should push for at least a top three division finish.
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Keys To The Season
– Kentucky Wildcats Schedule Analysis
